Growing to $119.5 Billion; Generation $33.6B in 2011

The market generated $33.6 billion in 2011, according to “Medical Device Contract Manufacturing: World Market Outlook 2013-2023,” published in January 2013, and Visiongain's analysis predicts the medical device contract manufacturing market to be worth $119.5 billion by 2023. With increased pricing pressures particularly in developed countries, the survival tool for the medical device manufacturers is to cut costs.

Amritha.M.Ramakrishnan, healthcare industry analyst says, "The contract manufacturing market is witnessing higher growth than the overall medical device industry, which is driven by an increasing aging population and demand for more innovative devices. As companies struggle to reduce costs and remain competitive, the opportunities for contract manufacturers are enormous. Outsourcing is now widely accepted among medical device companies due to the benefits it offers like speed to market, reduced cost, quality improvement, and availability of highly skilled labor. Rather than looking at contract manufacturers as a separate entity, OEMs now view outsourcing as a necessity to improve their overall quality and reduce expenditure."

Currently, the medical device contract manufacturing industry is highly fragmented with several thousand companies providing a range of services. It is expected that there will be major consolidations in the future as CMOs seek to provide increased operational capabilities. Major companies operating in this space include Accellent, Flextronics, Symmetry medical, The Tech Group, Greatbatch, and Nortech systems. However, the level of medical device outsourcing is still low as compared to other industries such as pharmaceutical, automotive and electronics due to late entry of the medical device industry in to the outsourcing market, in addition to concerns over quality and regulatory compliance.

Developed markets such as the US and Western Europe continue to dominate the medical device contract manufacturing market. However, fastest growing markets include Asian countries like China and India where OEMs can take advantage of reduced cost and highly skilled labor. This trend also gives OEMs an opportunity to enter these markets. The future may see the advent of virtual medical device manufacturers, who may outsource all their operations to contract manufacturing organizations, and work without any physical manufacturing plants.